Prometheus (Manship): Difference between revisions

Manship’s early passion for [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greece’s]] mythological heroes, most notably [[Heracles]], can be attributed to his apprenticeships of two [[Danes|Danish-American]] brothers — [[Gutzon Borglum|Gutzon]] and [[Solon Borglum]] — and later to [[Isidore Konti]].<ref name="Manship - Rand">{{cite book |last1=Rand |first1=Harry |editor1-last=- National Museum of American Art |editor1-first=1st |title=Paul Manship |date=1989 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Publishing |location=Washington, DC |isbn=0-87474-807-0 |pages=1-56 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/PAUL_MANSHIP/jTeC_rnczfwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Borglum%27s%20specialty |access-date=4 January 2024 |language=English |chapter=1, 2 }}</ref> It was these masters who taught Manship the classical “archaic Greek figurative sculpture.” “[[Archaic Greek Sculpture|"Archaic”archaic Greek artfigurative sculpture]], which is so much more abstract than [[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic]] or [[Roman art]], and particularly impressed Manship,” according to Harry Rand.<ref name="Manship - Rand" />

Throughout his travels to [[Italy]] and [[Greece]] during the early 1900s, Manship’s drawings from that time period illustrate how he was impressed with the “archaic Greek” fundamentals. He was the “first American sculptor to exalt such principles over the classical art of [[Phidias]] and [[Polykleitos]].”<ref name="Manship - Rand" /> Manship was transfixed by the archaic style and simplicity as seen in the [[Artemision Bronze]] statue, a statue of either [[Zeus]] or [[Poseidon]], on display at the [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens|National Archaeological Museum]] in [[Athens, Greece]].<ref name="Manship - Rand" /> Manship’s “Spear Thrower” and his “Atalanta,” exhibit these same graceful, sublime curves, as seen in the [[Artemision Bronze]].<ref name="Manship - Rand" />

When he was notified by the Rockefeller Center architects that he was chosen over countless others, he wasn't surprised. It was a moment Manship had waited for all his life. According to Rand, "the Rockefeller Center architects knew that he alone was only onesculptor that they could count on."<ref name="Manship - Rand" /> It was a moment he had waited for all his life. What had been marvelous in his "archaic" apprenticeships became magical in his ''Prometheus''.<ref name="Manship - Rand" />